Transforming Data

This section covers the data transformation functionality available in both Tableau Desktop and Tableau Prep. For basic transformations, such as splitting fields on a given character to create new fields or restructuring data by pivoting specific columns, Tableau Desktop can be used.

For more advanced transformations, such as aggregation of data and complex pivoting and unpivoting of data sources, Tableau Prep is best. Some of what could be considered data transformation was covered in the section on Tableau Prep’s clean step. In general, data cleaning refers to removing incorrect data and fixing issues, whereas data transformation refers to modifying the structure of the data. This can include adding new fields, increasing or decreasing the level of detail, or flipping/pivoting rows and columns.

Tableau Desktop Transformations

Tableau Desktop allows for some basic data transformations such as splitting fields on a given delimiter to create new fields...